"I just wanted to have fun in the video," Ciara told Rod 2.0. "I wanted to go back to when guys weren’t too cool to slow dance and everyone had the best time at a great house party. Not the largest house party but just fun. And I had to shoot it in Atlanta."

The release of the "Body Party"music video coincided with Billboard's new tracking formula and has helped the track catapult into the top of the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. "The clip, which premiered on the first day of the chart's streaming tracking week (April 22), garnered 3.8 million U.S. views in its first seven days," reports Billboard. There are now more than 6.3 million views exactly two weeks after the music video's release.

Listen to the interview:

Hopefully the new sound and the buzz around the new single—and a "soon to be released" second single, she promises—are a winning strategy. The Atlanta-born singer released her debut studio album Goodies in 2004. The album produced three huge singles "Goodies", "1, 2 Step" and "Oh". The second studio album Ciara: The Evolution shot to Number One and produced several more hits, including "Get Up" and "Like a Boy". In less than ten years, Ciara has landed 10 top ten singles on Billboard’s Hot 100, sold more than 7 million albums, won a Grammy, three BET Awards and three MTV Awards. Not bad for 28-years-old

"Ciara" will be her fifth studio album—track listing and pre-orders at iTunes—and is scheduled for a July 9 release. "I started working on this record more than a year ago," said Ciara. "Since then, I have found my creative clarity on the direction I wanted to go."

I have a couple of
questions, mostly around the music video
of “Body Party.” Four point five million views in one week. How do you feel
about that?

It’s definitely pretty cool to be loved by fans and to see
that they love what you do. That feels great.

Did you come up
with the concept for the “Body Party” video?

I had in my mind the idea and the feeling for what I wanted
to accomplish with Director X. We spent literally hours talking about it and
fine tuning the concept. We both wanted
to make sure that everything we needed was there.

It’s a beautiful
video and of course the song is very nice.
It reminds me of MJ and the 1990s. Is that what you were going for?

Well, I won’t say I was trying to go for anything that I’ve
seen—but I wanted to feel that funk. It makes me feel good that you think
that. I do [believe] that with that song
there is an expression of where I am. I wanted to go back to when guys weren’t
too cool to slow dance and everyone had the best time. A great house party—not
the largest house party but just fun.

You filmed it in
Atlanta—which of course, you love.

I did. I haven’t shot a video in Atlanta in a long time. It
felt good to [return] home. I could have shot the video anywhere but I wanted
to be in Atlanta. I couldn’t have shot it anywhere else but Atlanta.

What was your
inspiration for the song?

I was inspired by the music when I heard it. It just came
out. The vibe was already right from the music alone. But there wasn’t any
particular one thing. My ultimate goal
was to create a “feel good” vibe.

You did a great
job!

Thank you!

What’s it like
working with David Guetta?

Actually … I’ve never
worked with David Guetta.

Ruh-oh. My mistake.
Moving on …

(LAUGHING)

A couple questions from fans on Twitter. LilDueSwag asks, “Do
you know about a second single yet?”

I do.

Oooh. Can you give us
any details? Can you spill any tea?

Hmmm. Let’s just say … let’s just say … it is a harder
sound. But I want to make sure that I give my fans the right key words. Let’s
just say … it’s about taking the energy to the tenth power. It’s going to be
turned up—super turned up! That won’t be the name of the song but the energy will
be.

Have you shot a video
yet?

Not yet. But I am
getting ready to.

Another thing that
fans are asking: Do you know anything about a tour and dates? Please say yes.

I do have an idea … and they will be posted very soon. It will be on my website OnlyCiara.com.

Do you think you will
have that information fairly soon?

Not too far from now—

Because I just
tweeted that you will have a second single and people are already very excited.

(LAUGHS)

Another question:
When will you perform “Body Party” on tv and will you perform on any award
shows?

(LAUGHS) You’re tough! Hmmm … stay tuned. They will be the first
to know. (LAUGHS) The fans will be the first to know.

Waddie G of G List asks: “If
you could perform as a ‘super group’ with any two artists, who would be the
other two?”

Good question. I would do a performance with Pink and … hmmmm. Pink and I would be a duet, a tag
team due!. (LAUGHS)

Who or what are you
inspirations in music?

I am inspired by many things but mainly artists [such as]
Sade, obviously Michael [Jackson], Prince … I love Bono and Coldplay. I can tell you what artists like right now—but I don’t want to be misconstrued
and say that I take inspiration from artists that are out right now. I try to
create something new.

But I am really loving Lana Del Rey, I am loving Kendrick
Lamar. Drake is an amazing writer and I love his music. And of course, Coldplay
has been around for many years but I love their music. I’m into Paramour, too. I enjoy listening to many types of music, but Sade and
Michael Jackson are my biggest inspirations in music.

It’s cool that you
are saying Sade because so many of your fans were probably not around when she
was big.

I know, that’s crazy. For someone not to know Sade—wow. But that
is the reality of the new generation. She is one of the biggest queens of all
time, in terms of music. But it’s amazing that the new generation would not
know her.

By the way, as you
guessed, I meant to say, “What music or who are you listening to right now?”
But I know you probably wanted to check me hard on that.

(LAUGHS) Just in case!

Don’t get it twisted,
right?

(LAUGHS) Exaaaaactly!

Moving along: The
children want to know will you be doing more modeling? Anything else with
Givenchy?

Ahh yes. Givenchy is family. We have done so many cool
things together. But in a sense that aspect of my career has never stopped
because there is an element of that in photo shoots. It’s very organic when it happens—it isn’t
[planned]. The modeling and music kinda merge.